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Race and Medicine in Clinical Practice

This innovative course assists learners in identifying race as a social construct, recognizing medical practices that contribute to the perpetuation of race-based stereotypes, and how to describe health inequities resulting from structural racism among minority groups.

Upon completion of this course, you will be able to:

  1. Define race, racism and anti-racism;
  2. Discuss the history of race as a social construct;
  3. Explain how race is used in medicine (often incorrectly);
  4. Distinguish race as a social construct from genetic populations with shared ancestry; and
  5. Identify methods of practicing anti-racism in medicine.

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Addressing Microaggression in Health Professions Learning Environments (1.0 CME credit)

Microaggressions are subtle statements and behaviors that unconsciously communicate denigrating messages to individuals or groups based on some aspect of their identity (Nadal, 2011, Sue, 2010). Using examples, data and robust models backed by research, participants in this training will learn how to define, identify and address microaggressions in the health environment. As a result of attending this training, learners will be better equipped to improve patient care and long-term health outcomes in the clinical setting.

After completing this course, participants will be able to:

  • Define and identify microaggressions
  • Understand the health, social and cognitive impacts of microaggressions for patients, learners and health professionals
  • Use the triangle model to address microaggressions in the health environment
  • Learn the Recipient Action Approach, Source Assist Approach, and the Bystander Arise Approach

Register for the event here View the e-Learning Course

Understanding How Stereotype Threat Impacts Health Progressions Students (0.75 CME credit)

This course is designed for leaders in a clinical learning environment. Using data and examples from current published research on stereotype threat susceptibility, participants will learn to define, recognize and address stereotype threat among their learners. They will also learn how to help mitigate stereotype threat using the growth mindset, high standard feedback, metacognition and other verified techniques.

On completion of this training, learners will be able to:

  • Identify Stereotype threat responses in their own learning environments
  • Recognize and understand student responses including anxiety, compliance and defiance
  • Understand the mental and emotional load of stereotype threat
  • Improve the health learning environment through supporting students experiencing negative emotions and outcomes related to stereotype threat

Register for the event here View the e-Learning Course

Enhancing Effective Mentorship

The National Research Mentoring Network (NRMN) and UC Davis Graduate Studies are offering a unique opportunity to attend the following workshop:

Enhancing Effective Mentorship - September 15th, 2020

Please register for this event here: https://bit.ly/2Qvkhye

In this session, attendees will be introduced to the evidence-based Entering Mentoring series and discuss the benefits of quality mentoring, identify its core elements, and describe approaches to improve mentoring practices. This intensive workshop will focus on aligning expectations, effective communication skills, and graduate student professional development. Also, participants will learn about additional resources and opportunities through the National Research Mentoring Network (NRMN).

This event is for UC Davis faculty only. There are limited spots, please only register if you can attend. A waitlist will be made available once the event is full for other interested faculty. Please cancel your registration if you are no longer able to attend so we can pull from the waitlist.

Register for the event here

Working Virtually, Tips and Resources

This site includes articles and tutorials to help you most effectively use Zoom as we all navigate the coronavirus pandemic.

View article and tutorials

Giving Effective Feedback (online)

Adapted from Workshop in a Box: Visual Demonstration of Small Group Facilitation Techniques for Faculty Development: https://www.mededportal.org/publication/5103 to provide efficient, consistent, and easily accessible faculty development to small group facilitators. This module is generalizable for other types of small groups, learners and faculty development settings.

Audience: All faculty

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Managing Workplace Conflict: Navigating the COVID-19 Crisis (Webinar Recording)

The COVID-19 crisis has dramatically changed the way most of us work. In just a matter of weeks, the situation has created immense organizational uncertainties and placed tremendous pressures on our professional and family lives. These conditions create the perfect storm for workplace conflict, which is exacerbated by stress, uncertainty, and barriers to communication. Dealing with workplace conflicts created by our unusual situation requires a clear understanding of the link between the crisis and the potential for workplace tensions.

View the webinar recording

How to Build (and Rebuild) Trust (TED Talk)

Trust is the foundation for everything we do. But what do we do when it's broken? In an eye-opening talk, Harvard Business School professor Frances Frei gives a crash course in trust: how to build it, maintain it and rebuild it -- something she worked on during a recent stint at Uber. "If we can learn to trust one another more, we can have unprecedented human progress," Frei says.

View the video

How to Apologize: Asking for Forgiveness Gracefully

Scott has just arrived at his staff meeting, and he can tell that his boss, Catherine, is stressed. He ignores the tension in the room, and launches into his carefully researched presentation.

After a few minutes, however, Catherine picks up on a tiny error and begins to berate Scott. She accuses him, and the rest of the team, of not pulling their weight. Her hurtful words embarrass Scott, and he leaves the meeting early because he's so upset.

As the days pass, Scott expects Catherine to apologize for her behavior. However, the apology never comes, and their relationship becomes strained, resentful, and unproductive. A few months later, Scott takes a position in another department.

In this situation, Catherine could have healed her relationship with Scott with a sincere apology after the meeting. But, instead, she lost a talented team member.

In this article, we'll see why apologies are so important, and we'll look at how to apologize with sincerity and grace when you've made a mistake.

View the video and article

Communication with Angry Patients Through Deescalation (online)

Patients in the health care setting sometimes experience anxiety for a variety of reasons. A newly diagnosed illness, separation from loved ones, threat associated with diagnostic tests or surgical procedures, and expectations of life changes are just a few factors that cause anxiety. How successfully a patient copes with anxiety depends, in part, on previous experiences, the presence of other stressors, the significance of the event causing anxiety, and the availability of supportive resources. The nurse can be a support to the patient. The nurse helps to decrease anxiety through effective communication. Communication methods reviewed in this skill will assist the nurse in helping an anxious patient to clarify factors causing anxiety and to cope more effectively. There are four stages of anxiety with corresponding behavioral manifestations: mild, moderate, severe, and panic.

Estimated duration: 30 Minute

Audience: All faculty

Training organization: UC Davis Health Center for Professional Practice of Nursing

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E-learning modules from the London Deanery

This series of open access short modules covers core topics in clinical teaching and learning. They have been developed by the Multi-professional Faculty Development Team to inform and support the professional development of clinical teachers. On completion of a module, a certificate can be printed out for your own records or portfolio. E-learning for clinical teachers was designed and edited by Judy McKimm and Tim Swanwick.

All of the content on The Educator Hub is free to access, with no registration necessary. However, registration is recommended, as this allows users to track their learning, provide feedback on sessions, and retain certificates of completion. All of The Educator Hub content can be accessed at https://www.e-lfh.org.uk/programmes/educator-training-resources/ and if you wish to access without registering select the ’Browse our catalogue’ button.

Visit the London Deanery website

Magna Commons

Magna Commons is an on-line on-demand faculty development program for higher education. It has over 150 different seminars available and is compliant with Blackboard. It is geared towards higher education and not specific to medical education but many of the modules are relevant to educator development within medical education. It has a free seven-day trial for one to explore the array of topics. Modules are associated with a cost. Additionally you can buy “packs” of modules around specific topics such as the Flipped Classroom and Online Learning.

Visit the Magna Commons website

Coursera is an online education provider that offers online courses, popularly known as MOOCs or Massive Open Online Courses, from top universities around the world. Currently it has over 200 partners from 48 countries. These partners include Universities such as Stanford, Duke, Penn, Princeton, Michigan, Peking, and HEC Paris.


Speaking to Inform: Discussing Complex Ideas with Clear Explanations and Dynamic Slides

In the professional realm, most speeches and presentations we give are informative in scope. A scientist needs to explain her recent research findings. A financial officer needs to report on quarterly earnings to his company’s board. A technology professional needs to educate a consumer about a new product. Any time you need to convey ideas or demonstrate a process, you’re dealing with informative speaking.

Informative speaking is a fun puzzle. You need to think from the perspective of your audience to identify what they need to hear in order to understand the key ideas. How much does the audience already know? What are the most important elements to convey? How should one convey these ideas with appropriate breadth and depth given the time constraints of the speech? This demands a strategic approach to speech design that we’ll undertake in this class.

By the end of the course, you should be able to explain complex ideas vividly and accessibly, design clear and compelling presentation slides, convey your passion for a topic while maintaining your professional credibility, and speak dynamically from notes and/or a manuscript. Learners will record speeches, providing and receiving peer feedback.

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Assessment in Higher Education: Professional Development for Teachers

Are you a teacher in higher education wanting to get the best out of your students and assessments? This course will guide you through the different phases of preparing, creating and evaluating the assessments in your course.

After participating in this course, you will be able to:

  1. Design an assessment that is constructively aligned (content, level, methods) with the course objectives and activities
  2. Apply the quality criteria with respect to validity, reliability and transparency for construction of assessments and assessment items
  3. Analyze the assessment output and results, assess the quality of the assessment and make decisions about students’ grades accordingly
  4. Formulate future improvements for an assessment

View the e-Learning course


Process Mining: Data Science in Action

Computational thinking is the process of approaching a problem in a systematic manner and creating and expressing a solution such that it can be carried out by a computer. But you don't need to be a computer scientist to think like a computer scientist! In fact, we encourage students from any field of study to take this course. Many quantitative and data-centric problems can be solved using computational thinking and an understanding of computational thinking will give you a foundation for solving problems that have real-world, social impact.

In this course, you will learn about the pillars of computational thinking, how computer scientists develop and analyze algorithms, and how solutions can be realized on a computer using the Python programming language. By the end of the course, you will be able to develop an algorithm and express it to the computer by writing a simple Python program. This course will introduce you to people from diverse professions who use computational thinking to solve problems. You will engage with a unique community of analytical thinkers and be encouraged to consider how you can make a positive social impact through computational thinking.

The course is at an introductory level with various practical assignments.

View the e-Learning course


Computational Thinking for Problem Solving (online)

Process mining is the missing link between model-based process analysis and data-oriented analysis techniques. Through concrete data sets and easy to use software the course provides data science knowledge that can be applied directly to analyze and improve processes in a variety of domains.

Participants will learn various process discovery algorithms. These can be used to automatically learn process models from raw event data. Various other process analysis techniques that use event data will be presented. Moreover, the course will provide easy-to-use software, real-life data sets, and practical skills to directly apply the theory in a variety of application domains. This course starts with an overview of approaches and technologies that use event data to support decision making and business process (re)design. Then the course focuses on process mining as a bridge between data mining and business process modeling.

The course is at an introductory level with various practical assignments.

View the e-Learning course


Teaching in Higher Education

Hosted by Bonni Stachowiak, The Teaching in Higher Ed Podcast airs weekly. The podcast focuses on topics such as excellence in teaching, instructional design, open education, diversity and inclusion, productivity, creativity in teaching, educational technology, and blended learning.


UW School of Medicine Faculty Thrivecast

Hosted by Trish Kritek, MD, EdM, University of Washington School of Medicine Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs. This podcast is for faculty and provides tips to help clinicians, educators, and researchers thrive professionally in their careers, covering topics from time management and organization to leadership and self-advocacy.


Pediatrics: Junior Faculty Development Series

Past topics have included Building a Clinical Program, Women in Academic Medicine, Work-Life Integration, and more.


Vanderbilt Beyond the Lab Podcast

Curious about what biomedical science PhDs do for their career? In the "Beyond the Lab" podcast series, the Vanderbilt BRET Office of Career Development interviews biomedical science PhD and postdoctoral alumni about their career path.


#PTonICE Daily Show

The faculty of the Institute of Clinical Excellence deliver their specialized content every weekday morning. Topic areas include: Population health, fitness athlete management, evidence based spine and extremity care, older adults, community outreach, self development, and much more!


The Center for Faculty Educators at UC San Francisco

The Center for Faculty Educators (CFE) offers a variety of resources for educators at all teaching levels.


Stanford Medicine's Office of Faculty Development and Diversity

Stanford Medicine's Office of Faculty Development and Diversity offers a variety of workshops and programs throughout the year to teach the skills needed to develop faculty careers.


Stanford Faculty Development Center for Medical Teachers

One of the main objectives the Stanford Faculty Development Center for Medical Teachers was established was to disseminate teaching improvement courses to medical faculty nationally and internationally through their facilitator-training programs in Clinical Teaching and Basic Science Teaching. SFDC graduates are available to conduct workshops for other institutions and organizations. Large groups of participants can be accommodated by using a number of trained facilitators to work with small, break-out groups. Program alumni can be contacted directly for further information.


Masters in Business Administration

The Graduate School of Management at the University of California, Davis, is more than a business school—it’s a transformational experience where you will develop new ways of thinking about business and innovation.

Their online MBA program, MBA@UCDavis, offers you an interactive virtual campus that brings our culture of collaboration to you, wherever you are. Here, you will find an energetic network of enterprising professionals and globally recognized faculty eager to work with you to change the world.


Masters in Public Health

The UC Davis M.P.H. Program’s goal is to develop the public health leaders of the future by providing a high-quality Master’s degree curriculum in partnership with the public health community. We accomplish this through the collaborative efforts of the UC Davis and health networks, including the Schools of Medicine, Veterinary Medicine, Management, Law, Education, and Nursing and the California Department of Public Health, local county health departments, and non-profit agencies. These partnerships comprise teaching, student mentorship and field placements, research, service, direction, and support for the UC Davis M.P.H. Program.

The UC Davis M.P.H. Program is an accelerated, 56-unit program that focuses on the essentials of public health. It offers students two concentration areas – General Public Health and Epidemiology – and includes a practicum experience, or internship, in a public health setting.

Mentoring needed now more than ever! During the best of times the art of mentoring can be challenging. Whether it’s helping a junior researcher apply for a first grant, guiding a clinician to independent practice, or advising a post-doctoral fellow on next steps, mentoring requires a wide and varied skill set. Mentors help mentees to align expectations, develop obtainable goals, sort out work-life integration issues and more. Mentoring increases mentee professional and personal satisfaction, lifts morale, diminishes stress and prevents burnout. Now we are doing all of this, and more, as we face this global pandemic. Juggling more hats than we thought possible and meeting professional and personal demands with limited resources. It is important that we take time to think in different ways to support ourselves and our mentees. Check out these resources below for guidance on mentoring and resources for mentees to help navigate these difficult times.

J. Faye Dixon, Ph.D.
Julie Schweitzer, Ph.D.
Katren Tyler, M.D.


Mentoring during the COVID-19 pandemic: Colleagues facing closed labs and enforced social distancing need a different type of support. Mentors must change their approach

Author: Ruth Gotian, Nature, April 3, 2020

The coronavirus outbreak has left many of us feeling frightened, worried and overwhelmed. This is affecting people in different ways, but concerns relating to a lack of focus or productivity are not uncommon. Mentors should always provide a support system for trainees and encourage them to prioritize their health above their productivity: especially in testing times such as these. We must reimagine how we mentor in a time of closed laboratories, depleted and stressed health-care colleagues and social distancing.


Advice for Faculty Members in a Turbulent Time

Author: Mindi Thompson, Inside Higher Ed, March 19, 2020

Mindi Thompson gives some practical advice to help you focus on your physical and mental health and wellness. Wonderful tips for anyone in an educational setting and for general wellness – share with your mentees.


What to Do When Your Plans Get Thrown Out the Window

Author: Sarah Dobson, Edge For Scholars, April 1, 2020

This is a brief blog post to help junior researchers in thinking about how to pivot during COVID-19 – share and discuss with your mentees.


Just Breathe: Mindfulness Apps in a Pressured Time

Author: Scott Gubala, Edge For Scholars, April 4, 2020

This is a short blog post reviews mindfulness apps for academic health researchers.


Nurtured by nature: Psychological research is advancing our understanding of how time in nature can improve our mental health and sharpen our cognition

Author: , American Psychological Association, Monitor on Psychology, Vol. 51, No. 3, April 1, 2020

Read why spending more time in an uncrowded nature spot could be good for all of us.


Physician Wellness Resources

Virtual Resources for Challenging Times

In these challenging and uncertain times, the UC Davis Ombuds Office is actively compiling electronic resources that can help you navigate conflict. Check back often, as this page will be regularly updated with new materials and resources relevant to this rapidly evolving health situation.


A Multifaceted Systems Approach to Addressing Stress Within Health Professions Education and Beyond

Authors: Coffey DS, Eliot K, Goldblatt E, et al.

Publication date: January 30, 2017

This strategy involves taking a multifaceted systems approach that includes everyone across the health professions, beginning in the learning environment, working together toward a common goal of promoting wellness.


Well-Being and Emotional Resiliency in Academic Medicine

Published by: Association of American Medical Colleges website

As medical professionals increasingly struggle with the challenges of burnout, well-being, and the idea of resilience — the ability to recover from setbacks or difficult situations — have emerged as a priority for faculty, researchers, residents, and students in the academic medicine community.

Compared to many other professions, physicians and other clinicians are more likely to develop depression, commit suicide, or experience burnout. Burnout does not discriminate. It can affect any physician, regardless of specialty or years of experience in the field. Residents and medical students struggle as well.


Free Guided Meditations

Provided by: UCLA Mindful Awareness Research Center

Take a mindfulness break with free guided meditations. UCLA's Mindful Awareness Research Center (MARC) invites you to relax and rejuvenate with a variety of simple, guided meditations for free online and on iTunes.


Literature on Faculty Development

A systematic review of faculty development initiatives designed to improve teaching effectiveness in medical education: BEME Guide No. 8

Authors: Steinert Y, Mann K, Prideaux D, et al

Publication information: Medical Teacher, Vol. 28, No. 6, pp. 497–526, 2006

Preparing health care professionals for teaching is regarded as essential to enhancing teaching effectiveness. Although many reports describe a variety of faculty development interventions, there is a paucity of research demonstrating their effectiveness. The objective of this review was to synthesize the existing evidence that addresses the following question: “What are the effects of faculty development interventions on the knowledge, attitudes and skills of teachers in medical education, and on the institutions in which they work?


Online Communities of Practice: A Catalyst for Faculty Development

Authors: Sherer, PD, Shea, TP, Kristensen, E

Publication information: Innovative Higher Education, Vol. 27, No. 3, pp. 183-194, Spring 2003

This article addresses the concept of “communities of practice” and how it has come of age for the professional development of professors as teachers. Thanks to current technological options, faculty developers can enhance the opportunity for the entire faculty to learn through the use of online communities. Designing a faculty development portal using community of practice concepts can be an effective means to jump-start, facilitate, develop, and sustain faculty involvement in academic communities.


Online Faculty Development and Storytelling: An Unlikely Solution to Improving Teacher Quality

Author: Lowenthal, PR

Publication Information: Journal of Online Learning and Teaching, Vol. 4, No. 3, pp. 349-65, 2008.

Institutions of Higher Education are beginning to place a greater emphasis on quality teaching and student learning. However, few faculty receive any type of teacher training prior to entering the academy. As a result, faculty development is one likely solution to teacher quality issues. But faculty development is faced with serious shortcomings that impede its ability to improve teacher quality. This paper explores how moving faculty development online while at the same time incorporating the use of teacher stories could be a viable strategy to improve faculty development and teacher quality.


Toward ‘hybridised’ faculty development for the twenty‐first century: blending online communities of practice and face‐to‐face meetings in instructional and professional support programmes

Author: Brooks, CF

Publication information: Innovations in Education and Teaching International, Vol. 47, No. 3, pp. 261-270, 2010.

This manuscript begins with a synthesis of research on communities, communities of practice (CoPs), and the potential for their development in online forums, while specifically discussing the value of virtual CoPs for educational professionals in higher education. Working within constructivist and sociocultural frameworks, this manuscript addresses how online forums for faculty support can be beneficial in ways distinct from face‐to‐face environments. Further, this paper presents an argument for the hybridisation of faculty development by suggesting that online forums for collegial interaction are viable and culturally sensitive complements to traditional face‐to‐face faculty support, socialization, and mentoring programs. In conclusion, resources that can assist in designing a hybrid model of faculty development are offered.


Orientation, Mentoring and Ongoing Support: A Three-Tiered Approach to Online Faculty Development

Authors: Vaill, AL, Testori, PA

Publication Information: Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks, Vol. 16, No. 2, pp. 111-119, 2012.

In order for faculty to make a successful transition to teaching in the online classroom, they must receive professional development specifically geared toward this challenge. Bay Path College offers a faculty development program that incorporates three distinct components all geared toward aiding faculty to adjust to teaching online and providing assistance while courses are in progress with the goal of ultimately impacting the overall online learning experience for faculty and students alike. This article describes the College’s three-tiered approach to faculty development and explains the role that initial training, peer mentoring, and ongoing support play in preparing faculty and shaping their confidence in their abilities as an online instructor.


A New Image: Online Communities to Facilitate Teacher Professional Development

Author: Lock, JV

Publication Information:Journal of Technology and Teacher Education, Vol. 14, No. 4, pp. 663-678, October 2006.

Realizing the potential of online or virtual communities to facilitate teacher professional development requires educators to change their current perceptions of professional development. This calls for educators to develop new images of ongoing opportunities for professional development, based on their needs within an online community of learners and their recognition that communities may include individuals from local regions and from around the world who share mutual interests and goals. The realization of online learning communities to facilitate teacher professional development is a matter of carefully and deliberatively designing dynamic learning environments that foster a learning culture. This requires a pedagogical framework that nurtures the establishment of relationships, intimacy, and trust, where people engage in shared learning experiences mediated through technology. Designing an online learning environment that fosters the development of a learning community is not about adding technology on to current professional development practices. Rather, it is about designing, building, and supporting a structure and a process that are purposeful and fluid in nature and in meeting the personal ongoing professional development needs of teachers.


Faculty development: From workshops to communities of practice

Author: Steinert, Y

Publication Information:Medical Teacher, Vol. 32, No. 5, pp. 425-428, 2010.

Faculty development, or staff development as it is often called, has become an increasingly important component of medical education, and most medical schools now offer formal faculty development programmes and activities. As McLean et al. (2008) have stated in their recent AMEE Guide, ‘with demands on medical faculties to be socially responsible and accountable, there is increasing pressure for the professionalization of teaching practice.

To date, most faculty development initiatives described in the literature consist of formal (or structured) programmes such as workshops and seminars, longitudinal programmes and fellowships (Steinert et al. 2006). The goal of this viewpoint, which complements AMEE Guide no. 33, is to broaden our perspective and examine both formal and informal approaches to faculty development. Moreover, although the most common definitions of faculty development refer to a planned programme to prepare institutions and faculty members for their academic roles (Bland et al. 1990), this viewpoint asserts that faculty development can occur in a variety of contexts and settings, and often begins with informal learning in the workplace.


Introduction to faculty learning communities

Author: Cox, MD

Publication Information: New Directions for Teaching and Learning, No. 97, pp. 5-23, Spring 2004.

Faculty learning communities create connections for isolated teachers, establish networks for those pursuing pedagogical issues, meet early‐career faculty expectations for community, foster multidisciplinary curricula, and begin to bring community to higher education.


Other External Resources

MedEdPORTAL

MedEdPORTAL is a MEDLINE-indexed, open-access journal of teaching and learning resources in the health professions published by the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), in partnership with the American Dental Education Association. MedEdPORTAL publications are stand-alone, complete teaching or learning modules that have been implemented and evaluated with medical or dental trainees or practitioners. Each submission is reviewed by editorial staff and external peer reviewers using a standardized review instrument grounded in the tenets of educational scholarship.